BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 12. Azerbaijan has all the potential for green hydrogen production, Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Trend.
He noted that hydrogen is a relatively new field, and that it is too early to anticipate, however, as he explained, considering the potential of Azerbaijan in developing renewable energy recourses, such as solar and wind, the production of green hydrogen is very promising in this regard.
"So, as long as Azerbaijan is building its solar and wind capacity, then the water hydrolysis can be done. Also, hydrogen could be produced from gas, then it is blue hydrogen. But, nevertheless, I am sure it is possible," Cohen added.
The expert pointed out that, at the same time, Azerbaijan is striving to double its gas exports to Europe by 2027, and, in this regard, Azerbaijan will contribute to European energy security.
"Azerbaijan showed to the world that it knows how to implement large-scale energy projects. It started with the "Contract of the century" in 1994 under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev and that was Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Then with the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan implemented TAP and TANAP gas pipelines via Georgia and Türkiye to Europe. Increasing the capacities of the Southern Gas Corridor is a great initiative, because Europe needs diversification of its energy, gas sources. Europe is not going back to becoming dependent on Gazprom. Europe will be getting gas from many sources including from the TAP, TANAP," he said.
Meanwhile, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev noted as he addressed a meeting dedicated to the socio-economic results of six months of 2023 that the issue of turning Nakhchivan into a “green energy” zone along with Karabakh and East Zangezur has been initiated already.
“Most of the electricity in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is now produced by hydropower plants. The construction of solar and wind power plants is also envisaged there. Maybe 1,000 megawatts, maybe even 1,500 megawatts, and we will meet all the needs of the autonomous republic for “green energy”. We will also export “green energy” to neighboring countries,” President Ilham Aliyev said.